Harletson’s Declaration to Music

Up and coming indie acoustic band Harletson is enthralling a larger audience as they take the stage as opening acts for Sabrina Carpenter’s EVOLution tour. With their impeccable three-part harmonies and ensemble of guitars, they’re recreating some of our favorite pop songs and giving them a refreshing twist.

The trio primarily draws inspiration from the Eagles and other rock groups from the 60s and 70s, along with some modern folk bands. While the three members originate from across the United States, they hail from Los Angeles where their band was born out of a handful of coffee shop gigs.

As they warmed up the crowd for Sabrina with their charming stage presence, Harletson gave us just a taste of what’s to come by performing three of their original songs: their first single “Say Our Goodbyes”, (which you can stream on Spotify,) “Some High”, and my personal favorite and crowd-pleaser “Declaration.” Alongside their originals, they covered “Let Me Love You” by DJ Snake ft. Justin Bieber, “Scars To Your Beautiful” by Alessia Cara, and “Treat You Better” by Shawn Mendes, receiving a fervent response from the crowd. The most captivating aspect of Harletson is their stunning charisma, both on and off stage, and even on their Twitter account; and with every show on tour, the boys are winning the hearts of more and more fans, expanding their following by the hundreds.

I was lucky enough to talk with them after their set in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and their endearing presence on stage followed them to this interview:

Rhiannon Levengood: Can you guys introduce yourselves by saying your name, where you’re from individually, and whether you prefer waffles or pancakes?

Nathan Harrington: Hi, my name is Nathan Harrington. I’m from Chicago, Illinois. And I like waffles.Jackson Singleton: I’m Jackson Singleton. I’m from Orlando, Florida, and I also like waffles.Weston Wilson: I’m Weston Wilson, I’m from North Carolina. And I’m not picky, but I like waffles.

RL: How did you three meet?NH: We actually met out in L.A. These two were doing coffee shop circuits around there, and I’d been out there for 3 years, and was introduced to them through a mutual friend. And we started jamming together, and something just clicked, so we decided, “let’s do this thing.”

RL: Was there a big specific moment where you clicked?

JS: There was kind of a moment. We were jamming to the song “Don’t Let Me Down” by the Beatles, and it was just like, “Aw shoot, we actually sound like a band. This is new. This is cool.”

RL:What’s the most challenging aspect of your career so far?

WW: I think just…starting. Social media is such a big part of it now. We’re not the best at social media. We’re trying. Now we’re actually like…figuring it out.JS: We’re trying. It’s like a second job for us. But it’s also one of the best parts about our job, because we get to interact with everyone. And that’s kind of the biggest part, too. We want to have that connection.WW: So many people don’t talk to their fans, and we should, you know?

RL: Would you say that fan interaction is the most rewarding part then?

All nod in agreement.

RL:Besides the Eagles, whom I know is a huge part of your inspiration; who else do you draw inspiration from?

NH: Hmm. We draw inspiration from current artists like Ryan Adams and the Lumineers. That kind of vibe.

RL: What’s your favorite part of touring and performing?JS: Performing is obviously seeing the reactions from fans. It’s unreal so far. Touring…we just have a great time. We just hang out.NH: It’s fun. It’s pretty crazy, too. We drove all the way from California for these shows. We thought we were gonna be at each others necks by the end of it, but it’s just been going smooth.WW: Getting along really great.NH: We’re just getting to know each other, too. It’s really great. I would say my favorite part about the performing aspect would be seeing the happy faces. Just making people happy. Spreading that.

RL: And what would your least favorite part be?

JS: Leaving. Getting off stage. Getting off stage sucks.

RL:When can we expect new music?

WW: Probably after Christmas. Maybe before, a little bit?JS: We’re so pissed off ‘cause everything that we wanna do is just release more and more of our music, but we can’t do everything. As soon as we get back to L.A. [from tour], we’re gonna finish everything up and get it recorded.NH: At the top of the year, you’ll probably see something.

RL:What have you discovered about yourselves through all of this?

JS: That we can do it. It’s one of those things where we knew that we were gonna be driving, we were gonna be doing all this stuff, and this was kind of this idea–we found out a couple months before, so we were like, “oh, what’s it gonna be like?” And now that we’ve done it for, I think 16 or 17 days…NH: It’s become a cycle.WW: And people are actually reacting good to it.NH: Everything’s paying off.WW: We’ve been writing for the past year, and we haven’t done many shows. So doing this…seeing all the people. Your work pays off.

RL:If you had to pick a coach on the Voice, who would you pick and why?